My Sister's Keeper -Response

Ksenija,
You were and are missed! I think you lived in a particularly cool area of Tucson, perhaps this is just a temporary place while you figure out a sweet place for you to actually enjoy living in. I have videos on my flickr account. We'll have to do one just for Joe.

I read the book last night in one foul swoop. While it kept me reading, I must admit I felt very much the same as you with regard to the Hollywood nature of the story line and the inclusion of the Campbell/Julia thing. I wasn't surprised by the Kate request of Anna to let her die, nor by the epilepsy. Although now you mention it, I doubt that with the sort of seizure history that Campbell had he would have been allowed to drive. I used to have to get my neurologist to sign off on my driving every year for years after my seizures. So that doesn't make sense that he would be driving legally. We discussed the lack of voice that Kate has in the narrative other than at the beginning. How Anna's narrative was much more mature, not realistic for a 13 year old, than her talking.

I agree about Sara. I think it would be easy to become tunnel visioned about the one sick child in that situation and it rather seemed like a slippery rock, once they were willing to conceive for the cord blood, which I could definitely see doing, it was just one poke here, one poke there, one procedure and then another until they or at least she couldn't see the difference.

What was the deal with Jesse and the arson? I was sure his homeless buddy was going to turn him in. It seemed like the partial development of another story.

"Why is it that no one ever gave up on Kate, yet they let Anna go so fast? How were they sure that they couldn't do anything for her?"
It was more cut and dry? It wasn't their decision, but Campbell's?

It was Bridget, Erin, Annalise (spelling?) and myself with our respective children.

Hi, everyone. I really wish I were there to discuss this book. We also miss you all, and Joe misses his playmates. He hasn't played with any kids in weeks. As for Tacoma, it's great, but I don't like our neighborhood, and I think I've been really spoiled by Tucson.

But back to the book. The entire time I was reading it, I thought, how bookseller-ish, how Hollywood-ish, yet I couldn't pull myself away from it. I finished late Thursday night (in a tent at the beach), and all day yesterday I thought of nothing else. I felt cheated by the ending. Apparently, her 12-year old son was angry at her about the ending. I can see why. I felt cheated in a similar way when I was reading Atonement. I felt emotionally manipulated. But then, again, I suppose that crazier things happen in life.

The main reason I would really like to discuss the book with you is the character of Sara. I did not like her. I thought she was a bad parent to Jesse and Anna, I thought it would have made so much more sense if she had let Kate go. But then I looked at Joe and asked myself if I could let him go in a similar situation. And I guess I couldn't. 

The funny thing is that I think I've been a better parent these past few days, as I've been reading the book. 

I guess the big dilemma is: would I have a child just for the purpose of trying to heal another one? I don't think so. 

Other thoughts:

- I thought the side story of Campbell and Julia was unnecessary, though I admit I was dying to find out what his ailment was. 

- I should have seen that ending coming, but I totally didn't. Had I paid more attention, I would have noticed that the italics in the introduction didn't match anyone's font, so it had to be Kate saying she didn't kill her sister. I also didn't see it coming that Kate asked Anna to kill her. Did you? I kept wondering why that girl (Anna) is so contradictory, and why her actions didn't make sense. 

- I enjoyed Jesse's character, though I thought it a bit of a stretch that he becomes a cop in the end.

- I really wanted Anna to live. 

- Why is it that no one ever gave up on Kate, yet they let Anna go so fast? How were they sure that they couldn't do anything for her?

- Is it a coincidence that Campbell is in two car accidents in the book? How come no one says whose fault the accident was?

So, anyway, none of my thoughts are very deep. Mostly I am interested in what you all thought about Sara, and about the ending. 

ksenija

Next book club!

Hey gals!

Next book club is at my house next Saturday at 3pm. I'll send out a reminder e-mail with my address etc. Here are a few questions I found to ponder about the book....

1) While Vivi was not a perfect mother, Wells does not blame her as a mother. Discuss the concept of the "good enough" mother and what acceptance of that concept means to a woman's acceptance of self.

2) One of the themes of the novel is the necessity of and the difficulty of personal growth. For instance, Sidda must remind herself and be reminded that she is a "grown up." Which characters in the novel experience personal growth? What obstacles must those characters overcome in order to grow? How do those characters that grow overcome the obstacles that stand in their way?

3)Vivi is a tangled, charismatic, and haunted character. How much does the culture Vivi grew up in influence her? Does a woman face special problems when she grows up in the South during the 1940's? Look closely at Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind to see how it influenced Vivi's idea of who she was. In what way might "being a lady" pose problems for Vivi, her friends, and their daughters?

The latest book club

I think by now we have a steady group in the book club, and, except for Molly, everyone else was at Rachel's on Saturday, but I will write a brief account of what we talked about on Saturday anyway, if anyone cares to read. I just want to say that despite the gloomy topic, I had the best time, as did Joseph. It's great to get to know all of you I hadn't known before, and for the kids to get to know each other.  Who was there: Rachel and Ila (of course), Kelley and Evie (in an awesome Mexican dress), Analisa and Asher, Erin and Santiago (in a Che onesie), Bridget and Edie, Carrie (did I spell this right?) sans child, and Joe and myself. 

As for the book, we tried to draw the line between fact and fiction, but of course could not do that. There is not much info on the Internet, either. I found one site interesting:

http://www.vermontwoman.com/articles/1206/mirabal_sisters.shtml

I guess Julia Alvarez, Dede, and Minou visited this college, so the story is about all three of them.

We also discussed Dede: I initially thought she wasn't much of a heroine, but the others convinced me otherwise, pointing out how hard it must have been to be the one left behind, and how it's not a small feat to raise all those children and keep the other sisters' story alive. We talked about the other sisters. We all were partial toward Minerva, though, having children of our own, we were not as sure as we probably would have been at age 20 that we would join the revolution as easily anymore. Patria, we thought, was the sister who grew the most, and Mate was interesting, because it felt like her heart was never fully in it, that she did it for the love of Minerva and her husband, at least partly. 

We wondered if their deaths could have been avoided. This book actually reminded me of the Chronicle of Death Foretold by Marquez: you know from the start what's going to happen, but you keep hoping it's going to change anyhow. So although I knew they were going to die on that pass, I kept seeing all the ways they could have gotten out. But of course, as Erin pointed out, it wasn't a matter of if, but only of when. I also read that their murders finally galvanized the people, and Trujillo was overthrown later that year, I think.

Is there anything else that someone wants to add? The discussion actually went on for a while, interspersed with the usual conversations about children, so I am sure we talked about a lot more, but I can't remember right now.

In any case, we decided for a lighter reading for the month of June, and decided on The divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I am perhaps ashamed to say that this is one of my favorite books. Now, don't expect this one to be completely light either, but it definitely won't give you that doomed feeling that I had the entire time I was reading In the Time of the Butterflies. And, since I won't be here in June (flying to the motherland for Joseph to be spoiled by his grandparents), I hope you will be posting on the blog so I can vicariously participate.

Two quick thoughts

In the Time of the Butterflies creates characters out of women who really existed... does anyone know how the book was received by people who really knew the Miraval sisters and how much this parallels their actual lives?

Also for some reason thinking about both this book and the previous one really has me thinking about the role women play as "keepers" of religious faith for families and societies....

See y'all this Saturday!

Me again

So, how is it that we decided that The Bell Jar was too depressing and decided to read this instead? I am about 120 pages away from the end, and I don't want to continue (though I also don't want to put it down). 

Children's books

Julia Alvarez really  nice children's books. We have checked out two of her books. I don't know if she has more, but I really enjoyed them, and I am going to assume that Joe did too. Check them out.